Paris : Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy blasted what he said was a lack of evidence for the corruption charges against him over allegations that late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi funded his 2007 election campaign, in his court statement published on Friday.
The morning after he was charged in one of France’s most explosive political scandals in years, the 63-year-old rightwinger said he had been in “living hell” since the allegations first emerged in 2011. Demanding he be treated as a witness rather than a suspect, he urged magistrates to consider “the violence of the injustice” if it was proven, as he claims, that the accusations are a “manipulation by the dictator Kadhafi or his gang”.
“In the 24 hours of my detention I have tried with all my might to show that the serious corroborating evidence required to charge someone did not exist,” Sarkozy said in his statement. “I stand accused without any tangible evidence through comments made by Mr Kadhafi, his son, his nephew, his cousin, his spokesman, his former prime minister,” he added, reports AFP. Judges decided they had enough evidence to charge the combative one-term president Wednesday after five years of investigation and two days of questioning in police custody.